The Charge

"If you believe in God, you need no explanation. If you don't, there can
be no explanation."

The Case

This oft-quoted mantra concerning miracles springs to applicability in this,
the third of a planned six multi-disc collections of stories from TV's
Unsolved Mysteries. This set is, indeed, about miracles of all
sorts—from the traditional and formal Virgin-Mary-appears-to-peasants
types of miracles (Fatima, Lourdes, Medjugorje) to more isolated, personal types
of miracles (unexplained healing, near-misses with disaster).

If Unsolved Mysteries: UFOs was the spooky/mysterious collection, and
Unsolved Mysteries: Ghosts was the spooky/spooky collection, then this is
clearly the spooky/feel-good collection. Because that's the nice thing about
miracles: they always have a happy ending.

The main feature setting this set apart from its brethren is that feel-good
angle—here, you get to see people who are affected positively by their
unexplained experiences; they're not being scared witless or anally probed
(except when medically necessary). On the other hand, that also works against
this set. Since everything is a miracle here, and miracles always end
well (have you ever heard someone saying "and then an angel appeared to me
and cut off my left arm"?), you know from the very beginning of each story
what is eventually going to happen. The person is going to get better, and
doctors won't know why. That, unfortunately, makes these stories about as
suspenseful as a Soviet election—a big difference from the Ghosts and UFOs
sets, where you legitimately didn't know what was going to happen next to those
poor people profiled.

Given that fact, it's actually fairly astonishing how interesting these
stories manage to be. This set isn't as intensely gripping as the prior two
sets, but it's still a bunch of solid, well-told tales with plenty of
entertainment value. And, to reiterate: happy endings galore! I don't mean to be
too maudlin here, but if you have a friend or loved one who is facing some sort
of powerfully difficult challenge in their life, health-related or otherwise,
this set would make a pretty good gift in my humble opinion.

From a video and audio perspective, the disc is identical to the prior two
offerings. Video is full-screen, and maintains the original broadcast quality of
the show. The original stereo audio track has been tricked out into a Dolby 5.1
surround track that works very well for this series. Unsolved Mysteries
always had great incidental music; the surround mix really brings that
atmospheric score to life.

The included extras are also essentially identical. There's a short
introduction from the producers of the show, John Cosgrove and Terry Dunn
Meurer, where they talk about some of their personal favorite miracle stories.
The same extremely well-done tribute to Robert Stack that appeared on both prior
sets is included again; as I said before, this is one of the better succinct
biographical portraits of a celebrity I've ever seen. (These two features are
included on each of the set's four discs.) Commentary tracks are provided for
several of the segments—they're not tremendously fantastic, but they're
worth a listen. (One change: unlike the UFO and Ghost sets, this set does not
include a bonus segment covering a numerically significant "solve" in
the show's history.)

Unsolved Mysteries never overreached beyond its core competency:
telling stories, and telling them well. That's why these tales hold up so well,
even though some of them are over 15 years old. This is a very good,
entertaining collection of tales—and yet it's probably going to be the
weakest of the six sets, which only bodes well for the future. (The next
three sets, coming early next year, are "Psychics," "Bizarre
Murders," and "Legends"—I can't wait to see the
latter…) If you're a fan of the show, you'll enjoy this collection almost
as much as the last two. If you've never been exposed to the show, this is a
great way to discover this fine television series. And if you need some serious
cheering up, take heart—miracles do happen.